Process and device for displaying a transmitter name and a type of program transmitted in a digital data telegram on a radio receiver display

ABSTRACT

A process and a device for displaying the transmitter name and type of program transmitted by a radio transmitter in a digital data telegram on the radio receiver display during a search run and where a timing element controls the display of information.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a process and device for displaying thetransmitter name and the type of program transmitted in a digital datatelegram on a radio receiver display.

BACKGROUND OF INFORMATION

Radio transmitters have long been transmitting digital data telegramsaccording to the RDS standard in addition to audible broadcast signals.These data telegrams contain identifiers (PS) for the transmitter name,e.g., NDR1, NDR3, FFN, ANTENNA and identifiers (PTY) for the type ofprogram, e.g., sports, news, classical. The latter identifier (PTY) istransmitted in each RDS group, i.e., 11.5 times per sec, and thereforeit appears every 80 ms, whereas only the zero group is used fortransmission of the transmitter identifier (PS), and the identifier isfully transmitted only after four consecutive group signals. Since thezero group is transmitted by the radio transmitter only 2-4 times persecond on the average, the transmitter identifier appears on the displayafter 1-2 seconds at the soonest.

There are conventional devices, e.g., the Blaupunkt Berlin car radiowhich also analyzes the PTY identifier. The PS identifier is analyzedtoday by practically all RDS receivers to display the transmitter name.

The Blaupunkt Berlin car radio has a menu mode where a certain type ofprogram can be selected and then a search run samples successively thetransmitters that can be received and are transmitting a broadcast ofthe selected type of program. On a display with a large displaycapacity, the header shows the type of program selected and below thatthe transmitters identified are displayed in a list.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention guarantees that the type of program will bedisplayed with all non-program-type-oriented transmitter searches evenif the display has a display capacity of only one line=8 characters. Innon-program-oriented transmitter searches, the type of program isidentified from the data telegram received and then displayed and notderived from data selected in the menu mode as in the related art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention as a blockdiagram.

FIG. 2 shows a portion of the block diagram illustrated in FIG. 1 with amodification according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The digital RDS data telegrams of an RDS radio transmitter reach an RDSradio receiver via antenna 1 and are separated from the signals fromother transmitters with the help of a tuning part 3 in an HF input part2. The data telegrams go to an RDS decoder 9 via an AF amplifier 4 thatis followed by an FM detector.

The low-frequency audio signals and optionally the respective stereosignals are processed further in a low-frequency amplifier 5 andreproduced by one or more loudspeakers 6.

Tuning part 3 is tuned by operating station keys 7 on the desiredtransmitter. Station keys 7 may optionally include several operatinglevels.

According to a transmitter search run for the transmitter receivable atthe given location, a scan processor 8 invokes the individual stationkeys 7 in succession and may also detect the individual operatinglevels. Scan processor 8 can also control the tuning of the entirefrequency band for receivable transmitters. A particular feature of thecontroller is that when scan processor 8 leaves the transmitters thathave been identified after a brief sampling time of 8 seconds, forexample, it proceeds to the next transmitter unless the listenerinterrupts this automatic feature.

In this known tuning method, only the name of the transmitter receivedhas been displayed during the sampling time of the transmitter searchrun. However, since spoken contributions and music contributions mayfollow each other with various types of programs today, the listener maynot be inclined to continue listening to a transmitter selected becausethat transmitter is broadcasting a music selection but the listener issearching for a sports broadcast. However, if the type of program weredisplayed, the listener could discover from the display when a sportstransmitter has been tuned that this transmitter will soon betransmitting sports news again and then the listener could terminate thesearch run. In the converse case, it is also advantageous to display thetype of program when the listener likes the music selection beingtransmitted at the moment but would continue the search if he knew thatthis would soon be followed by a spoken contribution whose content wouldnot interest him at all. It is therefore desirable if the type ofprogram is also displayed in such a transmitter search run.

The circuit connected to RDS decoder 9 is used for this display. In RDSdata processor 10 the PTY identifier and PS identifier are filtered outof the numerous information signals transmitted over the RDS datatelegram, and the type of program of the transmitter selected is storedin a memory 11 and the transmitter name of the transmitter selected isstored in a memory 12.

The outputs of both memories 11, 12 lead to a switch 13 that connectsmemory 11 to the input of a display driver 15 in its upper position. Thetype of program is presented on display 16 by means of this displaydriver 15.

As mentioned above, program type identifier PTY is available afterundisturbed reception for 80 ms after tuning to the transmitter. RDSprocessor 10, however, needs at least one second for recognition of thetransmitter name identifier PS, and if reception has errors it may needup to two seconds. The zero group must be inserted with thecorresponding frequency into the RDS data telegrams at the transmitterend.

Two seconds after a change in tuning, a timing element 14 causes switch13 to enter its second position, so that now the transmitter name isread out of memory 12 and displayed on display 16. Timing element 14 isdesigned as a repeating element, so that the information displayed onthe display changes again after two more seconds.

Thus, with a search run that resumes automatically and has a pause ofeight seconds, two types of program type displays and two transmittername displays appear in alternation. If the listener does not want toadvance to the next transmitter and operates the respective key on scanprocessor 8, then switch 13 remains in its second position and displaysthe transmitter name continuously.

FIG. 2 shows a modification of this circuit in the area of switch 13. Inthis embodiment according to the present invention, an AND element 13Ais connected upstream from the second input of switch 13, so that inthis position of switch 13 both the transmitter name and the type ofprogram can be displayed on the display. This of course presupposes theuse of a multiple-line display 16A/B whose lines are either arranged onebelow the other as illustrated in FIG. 2 or they may also be arranged ina row, thus yielding the notation:

ANTENNA. U music.

According to RDS standard, one line, i.e., a single information word,comprises a maximum of 8 characters.

With a single-line display 16, a key may also be provided in parallelwith the timing element to return switch 13 back to the first positionduring operation of the key, so the type of program can be displayedagain. One alternative to this consists of resetting switch 13 by meansof the key and again triggering timing element 14.

To visualize the switching operation, it may be associated with a colorchange or a change in contrast in display 16.

We claim:
 1. A device for displaying a transmitter name and a programtype from a radio transmitter, comprising:an RDS radio receiver locatingthe radio transmitter corresponding to an identified one of the programtype and corresponding to an identified one of the transmitter name, theRDS radio receiver including a radio receiver display having an input; afirst memory device storing the identified program type; a second memorydevice storing the identified transmitter name; a switch coupled betweenthe first and second memories, the switch having an output coupled tothe input of the radio receiver display; and a timing element changingan operating state of the switch at a preselected time period after theidentified program type is displayed, the operating state being changedto display, on the radio receiver display, the identified transmittername together with the identified program type or alternating with theidentified program type.
 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein theRDS radio receiver includes a multiple-line display, and wherein theswitch couples the first and second memory devices to an input of themultiple-line display after the preselected time period.
 3. The deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the RDS radio receiver includes asingle-line display, and wherein the switch couples the second memorydevice to an input of the single-line display after the preselected timeperiod.
 4. A method for displaying a transmitter name and a program typeon a radio receiver display during a non-program-oriented transmittersearch run, comprising the steps of:transmitting the transmitter nameand the program type using a radio transmitter in a digital datatelegram; locating the radio transmitter corresponding to an identifiedone of the program type and corresponding to an identified one of thetransmitter name; displaying the identified program type on the radioreceiver display after the radio transmitter is located; generating apause using a timing element after the identified program type isdisplayed; and displaying the identified transmitter name on the radioreceiver display after the pause, the identified transmitter name beingdisplayed together with the identified program type or alternating withthe identified program type,wherein the steps of displaying theidentified program type on the radio receiver display, generating thepause using the timing element after the identified program type isdisplayed and displaying the identified transmitter name on the radioreceiver display after the pause are executed during, and as part of, atuning process.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the tuningprocess is an automatic scanning process for receivable radiotransmitters.
 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the tuningprocess includes a non-program-oriented transmitter search run.
 7. Amethod for displaying a transmitter name and a program type on a radioreceiver display during a non-program oriented transmitter search run,comprising the steps of:transmitting the transmitter name and theprogram type using a radio transmitter in a digital data telegram;locating the radio transmitter corresponding to an identified one of theprogram type and corresponding to an identified one of the transmittername; displaying the identified program type on the radio receiverdisplay after the radio transmitter is located; generating a pause usinga timing element after the identified program type is displayed; anddisplaying the identified transmitter name on the radio receiver displayafter the pause, the identified transmitter name being displayedtogether with the identified program type or alternating with theidentified program type,wherein the program type is stored in a firstmemory device, the transmitter name is stored in a second memory device,and the first and second memory devices are coupled by a switch havingan output coupled to an input of the radio receiver display.
 8. Themethod according to claim 7, wherein the timing element changes anoperating state of the switch to display the identified transmitter nameand the identified program type.